MURDERED BUSINESSMAN ACCUSED OF FRAUD, FORGERY

MBABANE – Matsapha businessman Sifiso Simelane, whose body was found in a forest with his throat slit, allegedly committed acts of fraud, which were discovered after his death.

Sifiso’s siblings, Mpendulo Simelane and Ntombifuthi (Maseko (nee Simelane), have alleged that he committed acts of fraudulent activities, the discovery of which shocked them. According to Mpendulo and Ntombifuthi, they are directors of H&E Company (Pty) Limited. They said the third director and shareholder was their mother, Elizabeth Simelane. The company has immovable property in the form of warehouses and a hotel. The immovable property is situated in Matsapha. The company’s movable property includes motor vehicles, which are used to conduct its business.

Mpendulo said the company was managed by a Board of directors. He said currently, there were two members of the Board; him and Ntombifuthi. At the time of his death, on January 22, 2024, according to Mpendulo, Sifiso was both a shareholder and member of the Board of directors. He stated that although there was a dispute regarding how Sifiso obtained the shares under his name, he appeared as a shareholder holding 50 per cent in the company. The shares that were held by Sifiso, according to Mpendulo, used to be held by their mother, Elizabeth.
H&E Company, according to Mpendulo, had the late Elizabeth and Ntombifuthi as directors. He said sometime in 2022, Elizabeth became extremely ill and she was unable to carry out her duties as director adequately.

Mpendulo said in April 2023, Elizabeth was admitted to Manzini Government Hospital, in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she passed away on April 16, 2023. Mpendulo alleged that Sifiso then forged minutes of a Board of directors of H&E Company meeting and appointed himself as a director, substituting his late mother. “The forged minutes were then submitted to the registrar of companies. Once the late Sifiso Simelane was a director, he then fraudulently transferred to himself 50 per cent shares that were held by the late Elizabeth Simelane.

Estate

“I say that he did that fraudulently, because the estate of the late Elizabeth Simelane was never wound up and the master of the High Court never authorised a transfer of shares from the late Elizabeth Simelane to the now late Sifiso Simelane,” said Mpendulo. He alleged that a certain motor vehicle, a Mercedes/LDV Double-Cab, was purchased with company funds.
He said the motor vehicle was purchased pursuant to a resolution of the Board of directors, where Ntombifuthi was the person chairing the meeting. The motor vehicle, according to Mpendulo, was registered in the name of the company. However, Mpendulo and Ntombifuthi said they discovered that the motor vehicle had been registered in Sifiso’s name yet it belonged to the company.

“Ntombifuthi Maseko and I were taken by surprise after the demise of Sifiso Simelane to discover that the registered owner of the motor vehicle was changed from the company to appear as if it is the personal property of the late Sifiso Simelane,” said Mpendulo. The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. The respondents are yet to file their answering papers. H&E Company is represented by Human Rights Lawyer Sipho Gumedze. Mpendulo said this happened after the company had taken a resolution that every property that was owned by H&E Company must be in the name of the company. Further, the company resolved that if there was any property fraudulently transferred, such must be corrected. H&E Company has since taken the estate of Sifiso to the High Court. The master of the High Court, the principal secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the national commissioner of police, the attorney general and Sifiso’s girlfriend, Mbali Mamba, are respondents.

The company is seeking an order directing the registrar general of the Motor Vehicle Registry to cause to be changed the ownership of the motor vehicle from Sifiso to H&E Company. It is also praying that Mpendulo and Ntombifuthi, as directors of the company, be granted access to Sifiso’s house at Bethany, Lobamba Lomdzala.  Mpendulo told the court that the motor vehicle was not the property of the late Sifiso.

Vehicle

“The late Sifiso Simelane committed fraud when he changed the ownership of the motor vehicle to his name. The company wants to utilise the motor vehicle, including using it as collateral. “In its current state, the company is not in a position to use it as it appears that it is owned by the late Sifiso Simelane. It is in the interest of justice and in the interest of the shareholders and creditors of H&E Company (Pty) Limited that the motor vehicle has its registration corrected,” Mpendulo argued. Meanwhile, Sifiso is believed to have been robbed by unknown people, before they slit his throat and dumped his body in a forest at Mahlanya, on the night of January 22, 2024. Close to a thousand mourners attended his funeral at Mahlanya.
Among the mourners were Sifiso’s friends, who were bikers. They shared their versions of how they viewed his murder. Some of them were of the idea that his assailants’ intention was to kill him and not to rob him. Last Friday, Judge Titus Mlangeni removed the matter from the roll and it is to take its normal course.

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